When Darkest Night Fades
by Eltanin Malfoy-Potter
Summary: When Draco returns to Hogwarts to finish his seventh year, he is not the Draco everyone remembers. He is no longer confident and loud, but rather quiet and keeps to himself. You'd never think that the returning of a wand could be such an important moment, but when you're in the middle of your darkest night, it could surprise you what becomes important to you.


As Draco Malfoy boarded the Hogwarts Express he couldn't help but hear all of the whispers of "Why are they letting a death eater back?" and "What is that filth doing here?" Draco was sure this was going to be a great year.

He found an empty compartment and was about to take his seat when he heard "Hey! Hey Malfoy! Wait!" He turned around to see Potter running at him waving something he couldn't make out.

"What do you need?" He asked quietly as Potter neared him.

"I - I have this!" He exclaimed, showing Draco his wand. He looked at it warily, wondering if this was some sort of trick. When he reached out to take it, was Potter going to yank it away and laugh in his face? Why would he ever give a Death Eater back his wand? Potter seemed to catch on.

"Go on, take it," he said. "It's not a joke. It's yours."

He reached out slowly and took it from Potter's outstretched hand, and he held it with reverence. It had been so long since he had held his own wand and the magic began to swirl around them.

"Thank you." It was spoken quietly, as if Draco was still afraid it was a dream, and if he spoke too loudly, he would wake up.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get it to you earlier, I owled a few letters to the manor, but they all came back." Potter tried to explain.

"I don't live at the manor anymore. I have a flat right inside of Wizarding London."

"Oh! That's great! I moved to a flat above -" Harry was cut off by Hermione yelling "Harry Potter! Come on. We have a compartment and you need to look over some things before we get back."

"Guess I've got to go. See you around, Malfoy." Harry said while turning to walk towards Hermione, who was still muttering about insolent boys and not passing N.E.W.T.S. and lots of other boring things he was likely to hear about later.

"See you." Malfoy replied softly.

"And just why were you talking to the ferret?" Ron asked as soon as Harry stepped foot in the compartment.

"I was giving Malfoy his wand back and we started talking." He replied defensively.

"Why are they even letting the git come back? I mean he's a Death Eater for Merlin's sake!" Ron almost shrieked.

"Was a Death Eater, Ron. And it wasn't even his fault. He just didn't know the best way to save his family and happened to choose the wrong one. You didn't see him that night on the tower. He didn't want to be a Death Eater. He didn't want to kill Dumbledore, he didn't want to kill anyone. He lowered his wand. I watched him. I was there." Harry defended.

"Whatever," Ron huffed. "It doesn't make him any less of a git."

"Maybe not, but you could try to be a little more underst-" Harry was cut off by a yell from the corridor. He rushed out to find Malfoy under an onslaught of curses and hexes. He had his wand out, but it was no use, as there were four of them and only one of him.

Draco watched as Potter hurried away no doubt to be endlessly questioned about their conversation. As the train started to move, he reached up and took a book out of his bag. He sat down and began to read.

This particular story, which Draco could relate a lot to, was about a pureblood girl who was raised to believe things that weren't true. Her home was abusive and if she didn't do as told right away, it usually resulted with the cruciatus, sometimes worse, sometimes with no reason at all. In the actual plot of the book she realizes that she is a lesbian, which is most definitely against pureblood tradition. Draco could relate to that too. He'd known that he was gay for four years, since he was fourteen.

No one knew except Pansy, and because they had been best friends since birth, she agreed to help him. She pretended to be with him every time his parents held a party or gala and made everyone believe that Draco was straight and taken.

He knew one day he would have to tell them, but he couldn't right now. Draco had decided to wait until he was steady on with a bloke to come out.

As Draco was pondering this, he didn't notice some sixth and seventh years walk up to the door of his compartment.

"Oi! Malfoy! What are you reading?" asked goon number 1.

"Probably brushing up on some dark curses so he can kill some of us while we're sleeping," Replied one of the girls in the back.

"What... I- I am not! How foolish. I suggest you leave-"

"Or what Malfoy? What will you do? Go crying to daddy? Oh wait- you can't do that anymore can you? Tell me, Draco, where's daddy at? Is he in Azkaban yet-"

Draco flew across the compartment and pinned the boy to the wall with his wand at his throat.

"If you even dare finish that sentence I will make sure no one can recognize you."

The boy kicked Draco off of him, sending him flailing to the floor. One of the wizards in the back started firing stinging hex after stinging hex at Draco. It barely took a second for the others to join in on the torture. Amidst the pain, Draco was able to yell out for help. He tried to fight back, but he was just out numbered.

"What would daddy think of his little Draco now? CRUCI-"

"PROTEGO!" Harry blocked the curse and ran over to Draco who was trying to sit up.

"You're Harry Potter!" Exclaimed one of the pack.

Ron looked at the idiot and said "Yeah, he bloody well is! What the hell is going on?"

"He's a Death Eater! He should be in Azkaban with the rest of his-"

Harry, who had got Draco sitting and was working on his injuries, whipped his head around and started to yell.

"If you are not out of my sight in about three seconds, you probably won't make it to the castle, and McGonagall will hear about this."

The group of kids scampered off to the compartments at the front. Harry turned back to Draco to assess how badly he was hurt. He had welts along the right side of his face from a nasty stinging hex and he had a cut on his left arm that ended just inside the Mark. Other than that he seemed to just be bruised.

"Hey 'Mione! Do you still have that Healing Paste?" As she handed it over to Harry, Draco started to talk.

"Potter. Why are you doing this? I certainly do not deserve it." He winced as Harry took his face lightly in his hand and smeared the thick, orange paste onto the welts.

"No you certainly did not deserve to be cursed in a place that's supposed to be safe for you. I wasn't kidding, I am going to McGonagall."

Harry held out his hand and Draco gave him his arm obediently. Harry looked at the Mark, hesitating until Draco finally whispered, "It's okay."

Harry gently covered the cut with the essence and put a bandage around the wound to prevent infection.

Hermione and Ron had left by now, most likely to have some 'alone time', so Harry sat on the bench opposite Draco.

"Thank you, Potter."

"No." Harry said.

"Pardon?" Draco asked, slightly taken aback.

"Don't call me Potter anymore. Just Harry."

Draco tried to hide the surprise that he felt. He looked at the other boy with many thoughts but didn't know what to say other than "Alright. Harry." It was odd, but he found that it rolled quite easily off his tongue.

"I suppose you could call me Draco then."

"Alright. Draco."


End file.
